July 09, 2024 02:15 PM UTC

Greg Lopez Now Officially Colorado's Shadiest Substitute Congressman

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

As the Washington Examiner’s Rachel Schilke reports, yesterday was distant former Parker Mayor-turned perennial primary loser Republican Greg Lopez’s best day ever, sworn into Congress to fill in for the remaining six months of retired Rep. Ken Buck’s term before the seat is filled for good by the winner of the November 5th CO-04 general election:

House Republicans gained some temporary relief after swearing in the conference’s 220th member on Monday, giving Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) additional breathing room with the GOP’s winning streak with special elections.

Rep. Greg Lopez (R-CO), who won the special election to replace former Republican Rep. Ken Buck, was sworn into office on the first day of votes following the House’s July 4 recess. His entry into the Republican conference gives Johnson a three-seat majority to pass legislation along party lines.

“I am filled with a sense of gratitude, gratitude for being given an opportunity by my Lord and Savior, and good people of Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, to join you, my brothers and sisters, in 118th Congress,” Lopez said in a speech following being sworn in.

There was no mention in the Colorado billionaire Phil Anschutz-owned Washington Examiner of the substantial train of baggage now-Rep. Lopez brought with him to pad the GOP’s razor-thin House majority, which as our readers know includes a DUI, a domestic violence incident involving his then-pregnant spouse, and settling with the Small Business Administration after allegations he attempted to improperly influence government officials. Lopez ran and lost vanity campaigns for governor in 2018 and 2022 at the primary level, gaining the most prominence when he was pumped by Democratic PACs in 2022 to force Heidi Ganahl to the fringe right–something Ganahl proved perfectly capable of doing without help.

After years of wasted time and effort, the secret sauce for Lopez came when he agreed to serve in Congress strictly as a placeholder for the remainder of Buck’s term instead of campaigning for the proper GOP nomination in the June 25th primary. This offer perfectly served the interests of cartpetbagging quasi-incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, who could not run for the temporary posting without giving up her current seat, and needed someone to fill out Buck’s term who wasn’t competing against her in the June 25th primary. And it’s perfect for Lopez, who without real qualifications to serve in Congress won’t be there long enough to mess anything important up.

And six months to…you know, influence things.

For Ken Buck, who is generally believed to have timed his sudden retirement in order to throw a monkeywrench in Boebert’s district switcheroo, the appointment of a marginal figure like Lopez to serve out the remainder of his term is insult added to injury. For one thing, Lopez is every bit the election denier that Boebert is, an issue that Buck once claimed (albeit inconsistently) as a litmus test. And we cannot imagine that Lopez’s criminal record has ex-prosecutor Buck pleased to see Lopez filling Buck’s shoes in the hallowed halls of Congress.

We’ll be watching C-SPAN for Lopez way in the back with Boebert and Matt Gaetz, perhaps exactly in George Santos’ former seat.